Where Can She Eat? Restaurant Reviews of Fly Bar and Taps

Jeff on the patio at Fly Bar

My last night in Tampa, Jeff and I decided to try out a couple of the tapas restaurants downtown. Most tapas restaurants work well for the meat eater and the vegan because there is a variety of small individual dishes you can order and share (or not).


Our first stop was Fly Bar & Restaurant, a hip downtown restaurant with eclectic art on the walls inside.  We chose to sit outside and enjoy the weather.  Fly Bar has a roof top patio but they do not serve food up there and we were hungry!
 

Roasted Garlic Frites

Fly Bar had several options for the vegan and plenty of dishes for the meat eater. We started out ordering the Roasted Garlic Frites (vegan). Kennebec potatoes roasted in garlic which we were able to share. 




 
On the menu for vegans was Authentic Nachos with spiced black beans, pico de gallo, and could come with guacamole.  Their Homemade Hummus on the menu said it included feta and I did not ask if it could be made without.  But don't be afraid to ask! Most places are happy to accommodate unless you try to ask for something ridiculous like their Scallop Ceviche but hold the scallops. Asking for the Spinach & Market Pear Salad without the goat cheese however, is completely acceptable.

And this is how we felt about frites- fantastic!

After devouring our Roasted Garlic Frites, I ordered the Carmelized Brussel Sprouts which were cooked and carmelized in a spicy mustard sauce and very tasty. I ate a good portion of them but they weren't so fantastic I'd eat them all til I'd burst. Thankfully, my meat eater finished them off and informed me that he is very fond of brussel sprouts and cooks them often (I told you he eats anything).

Caramelized Brussel Sprouts

Shrimp & Grits

 
Jeff ordered one of his favorite meals - Shrimp & Grits - [which I will let him describe here later]. But I think it looked nice? 

Okay, I (Jeff), after crawling out from under a pile of work, have finally figured started to figure out how to do this blog thing.  Here it goes . . .

One of my favorite cities in the world is Charleston, South Carolina.  One of the Lowcountry's most noted dishes is Shrimp & Grits, and it happens to be a favorite of mine.  If I am near the coast, and the chance of eating fresh, local shrimp is likely, I order Shrimp & Grits. 

I've lived all over the South, and I love the culinary nuances of different Southern-American cultures.  Like barbeque, the variations on Shrimp & Grits are endless (notwithstanding the fact the grits are a breakfast, dinner, and supper [breakfast, lunch, and dinner] kind of food). 

At Fly, the consistency of the coarsely-ground hominy was fantastic--a nice balance of creaminess and texture.  The darker roux had the right bit of richness and spicy sausage, and was a pleasant contrast to the grits--but I felt that the roux was drowning the dish somewhat.  My recommendation would be half a ladle less.  Regardless of the gravy flood, the local Gulf shrimp were tender and right at home.

On the note of shrimp, I am always trying to coax my vegan to the dark side, and feel that shellfish would be a great and tasty start.  When I posed this question directly, the answer was of course "no."  I rebutted with a "but shellfish aren't like other animals!  They're practically akin to cockroaches!"  Immediately realizing the flaw in my argument (most, if not all, women find few things less appealing than cockroaches), I knew I was going to have to figure out a way to make Tofu & Grits . . . Jeff OUT. 

We paid the tab so we could head off to the next stop, and learned that live jazz music was playing later that evening so we vowed to return and listen to it.

Taps

Our second stop was Taps Restaurant Bar & Lounge downtown Tampa. I loved the outdoor patio seating here and a livelier view of the town. The couches were comfortable and relaxing and there was a breeze coming off the bay. We only had one beggar asking for alms. But it was a really lovely spot.

Taps Menu

The Taps menu offered American tapas, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. More options were available here for the vegan; the Napa Valley Salad with field greens, roasted asparagus, tomatoes, green apple, red onion, almonds, and  goat cheese croquette  with apple cider vinaigrette - without the goat cheese; or the Roasted Vegetable Salad with portobello mushrooms, red bell peppers, onions, asparagus,
gorgonzola, roasted garlic mayo on pressed baguette - without the gogonzola or mayo.

After agonizing over whether to get the Smokey Guacamole with avocado, jicama and lime served with corn tortilla chips or the Bean Dip Trio from the tapas menu, we decided on the Bean Dip.

The Bean Dip Trio consisted of hummus, tuscan white bean and latin spiced black bean dips served with grilled pita. This turned out to be an excellent choice.

The white bean (on the left) was Jeff's favorite, it had a light roasted garlic flavor which I agreed was very good.  I liked the black bean which had very creamy taste and texture. I didn't really pick up on the latin spice, unless that was just the jalapenos on the top.  The hummus was also excellent with a slight citrus twist to it.

Outdoor patio at Taps with a nice view of the university

As we sat and discussed our food and what a great evening it had been, we arrived on the topic of the politics of war.  I won't get into the details here, but it turned out to be a lengthy discussion which caused us to miss the jazz music back at Fly Bar.


 
Now this vegan and the meat eater are generally politically like-minded, but after several hours debating the politics of war, he came to the conclusion he was dating a neo-con and I decided my meat eater was an isolationist.

Tap's building downtown Tampa